Cinelicious Pics, SpectreVision and The Cinefamily present Eiichi Yamamoto’s controversial 1973 film, BELLADONNA OF SADNESS — one of the great lost masterpieces of Japanese animation, newly restored in 4k for this first-ever U.S. release. The film is the mad and sensual tale of Jeanne, an innocent young woman who makes a pact with the devil (voiced by Tatsuya Nakadai, from Akira Kurosawa’s RAN). Filled with explicit Egon Schiele-inspired eroticism, the film is a swirling, psychedelic light-show of medieval tarot-card imagery replete with horned demons, haunted forests and La Belle Dame Sans Merci. Extremely transgressive and not for the easily offended, BELLADONNA is fueled by a mindblowing Japanese psych rock soundtrack by noted avant-garde jazz composer Masahiko Satoh. BELLADONNA OF SADNESS opens May 6th at the brand new Metrograph theater in New York, the Alamo Drafthouse at the New Mission in San Francisco, and at The Cinefamily in Los Angeles the week of May 13, with a national roll-out to follow.
BELLADONNA OF SADNESS is the last in the adult-themed Animerama Trilogy produced by the godfather of Japanese anime & manga, Osamu Tezuka, and directed by his long time collaborator Eiichi Yamamoto (ASTRO BOY, KIMBA THE WHITE LION). All but lost since the its 1970s release, the film was restored by Cinelicious Pics using the original 35mm camera negative and sound elements – including over 8 minutes of surreal and explicit footage cut from the negative.
